2Daily crashes and burns

2Daily has stopped paying members, stopped answering emails and has closed its doors permanently, and in otherwise short order left the buiding after only a brief (like couple months?) sojourn on the Net, possibly breaking an all time record in the flash, splash, crash and burn on-line business model, and, no doubt taking those who did actually invest money with them (in high hopes of the promised high returns) firmly to the cleaners

When it first appeared, many were excited and an equally number puzzled. The burning question was how could it possibly support the claims of large payouts for miniscule amount of surfing? How? A traffic exchanges' life blood is in the surf. That is what makes it all WORK. You simply cannot attract advertisers without active member surf stats. Plus, you simply cannot just give money away along with free memberships combined with small payout levels. All that eventually comes back to haunt you. Quickly in 2Daily's case.

Of course, 2Daily was on the fast-track to burn out from the onset: promising a. free money b. free memberships c. low (like non-existent surf requirements) and (most fatal of all) d. quick payouts within the first 30-days for all members - including free. They apparently had not noticed that "free" members means no one spends money. If you pay free members to surf every month, they tend to stay that way. Plus, if you set the surf standards too low, you basically have a whole lot of people doing - nothing. And nothing does not pay the bills, does not attract advertisers, does not encourage members to upgrade.

Nothing then means you have no money to pay the members. Unless you have really deep pockets and another agenda for starting the whole affair to begin with, of course you are doomed. Of course you cannot pay. Of course you have no substantial or loyal or (God forbid) WORKING membership. Everyone along for the gravy train and the free ride and no one noticing the rather ill concealed lumps or the sink holes in the road. For those lured by promises of EVEN BIGGER PAYOFFS by investing their money in the ill-fated enterprise...

2Daily has stopped paying members, stopped answering emails and have shut the doors permanently.

So, what does that say about the paid-to-surf industry? Is it a sham, scam, and a rip-off? In my opinion, absolutely NOT.

There are scammers and mis-guided and/or unscrupulous owners for sure. There are the sharks absolutely. There are those who have no clue - as in all sense and sensibility has left the building. Does this cast a shadow on the paid-to industry as a whole. Yes. But shadows are meant to be stepped out of.

There is a number of very successful and ethically run paid-to-surf programs on the Net. Some are very well established, some are new. Some have successfully employed the concept of free accounts and free money. Studio Traffic is the most notable (and probably the most emulated).

However, for every Studio Traffic there are THOUSANDS (or more) which fail. The primary reason for failure is that free money and free membership combined with LOW PAYOUT time frames and membership levels is inherently unstable. As a veteran of many paid-to sites, I know for a fact that the majority of them have very high payout levels for free members and there is a sound business reason behind this. By the time a free member finally reaches payout, the site has garnered a. many paying members b. many paying advertisers. These are the entities which actually pay a. hosting bills and b. the free members.

I belonged at one time to a number of paid-to sites where the payout was set at well over $150.00 for the free members. At .002 per click, well let's say it was a whole lot of reading required to make payout level. And then of course I didn't make $150.00. Nope. That was the LEVEL I had to accumulate. Sigh. I got paid anything over that. I never did reach payout. Kinda the whole point in the industry somewhat. That was 2003 - 2004.

Then, we started to see the backlash to all this. First there was all those programs which claimed to pay you $5, then $10 then $50 and THEN $150 per email. Yikes! One of them was supposedly paying out at $15,000. Like HOW?? (My all time favorite was the site that supposedly taught you how to earn $1 million reading emails. Right. My question was WHO WAS PAYING THAT? That what I wanted to find out because THAT was the business I wanted. Lol. I wanted to be the admin who PAID out that mil to members - plural.)

Point is: paid-to anything is a business. It must follow good, sound business practices and laws. Anyone can PROMISE anything. A promise is no good unless fulfilled. Ethical business owners know and appreciate this fact. They follow solid business models which guarantee success for the customers/members first. This guarantees them success. When looking for a good paid-to program to invest in ASK QUESTIONS! Analyze the situation. Does it MAKE SENSE? Then, proceed with caution always.

- Cherie Halliday http://xtreamsurf.com/XtreamNet/viewtopic.php?t=350